Several tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) destined for Japan have changed course to deliver to Europe in order to help it obtain LNG supplies, said Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Koichi Hagiuda, according to information transmitted by Agence France-Presse on Wednesday 9 February.
These additional deliveries are expected to arrive in Europe this month, with more to come in March. Their aim is to help prevent the risk of a gas supply shortage in Europe due to the current geopolitical situation.
The possibility of Russian aggression towards Ukraine is fuelling fears of a suspension of Russian gas supplies to Europe in the event of retaliatory measures by Western countries against Moscow.
While the Japanese minister did not specify the volume of LNG that will be sold to Europe, he stressed that the importance of these deliveries was conditional on Japan itself receiving sufficient LNG deliveries.
Ensuring adequate gas supply
The announcement comes as the EU seeks to increase contacts with gas suppliers other than Russia (which accounts for around 40% of the EU’s gas imports), in order to secure additional supplies if necessary.
In addition to Japan, the EU is in close contact with the United States (see EUROPE 12885/2), Norway, Qatar and Azerbaijan.
Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson was in Baku on 4 February for the eighth ministerial meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council.
She underlined the “strategic role” of Azerbaijan, which “continues its efforts to ensure secure, stable and affordable energy supplies for Europe”.
A few days earlier, on Tuesday 1 February, the Commissioner met via video conference with Qatar’s Energy Minister, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi.
While he assured that Qatar “stands ready to support its partners around the world in times of need”, he also stressed that “the volume of gas that the EU needs cannot be replaced by anyone unilaterally without disrupting supplies to other parts of the world”.
The Bruegel think tank even believes that measures to replace Russian gas supplies will not be sufficient if Gazprom’s supplies to the EU are interrupted.
“The European Union will need to curb demand, implying difficult and costly decisions” (such as reducing industrial gas), the organisation said in a note published on 27 January.
“Even if it were technically feasible to synchronise the depletion of stocks across Europe to delay or prevent gas supply disruptions across the EU, there is a risk that better supplied countries would not be willing to share their scarce gas resources with countries in a more difficult situation”, the note further states.
In Germany, the level of gas reserves has fallen to 35-36%, compared with 82% during the same period in 2020, a spokeswoman for the German Ministry of the Economy and Climate said on Wednesday, describing this level as “worrying”.
See Bruegel’s note: https://aeur.eu/f/a2 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)